Red Red Rose

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  “Thanks,” she smiled and then grimaced. “Not exactly a good time to be a redhead.” All of the murdered girls were redheads. One of the reasons Emily didn’t fit the profile. She had locks of sunshine, not fire.

  “When are you going to let me do yours?” Carlie quickly changed subjects. She’d been asking since I hired her in September. When she graduated in June, she planned to enroll in beauty school. I absent-mindedly ran my fingers through my own ponytail.

  “I think I’ll keep it the way it is a while longer.” The raven colored tresses that fell down and hit me mid-back weren’t natural, but I’d been dying my hair to match my mother’s since I was thirteen. I could no longer even picture myself with lighter hair. The black was just me now.

  “Hey Carlie,” Mitch popped out from the kitchen. He cocked his head. “You changed your hair.”

  “I did.” Mitch might have missed the way her whole face lit up at him noticing, but I didn’t. The twenty-five year old was completely oblivious to the teenager’s crush on him and went about his work while she stared after him dreamily. He was handsome, with a stocky build. I think he’d been a wrestler in high school and maybe even college, but now he was taking steps to become a police officer. That he remained unaware of Carlie’s affections was the only thing that saved me from having to discourage them. As far as I could tell, he was a decent guy, but he was too old for her. She was a sweet kid who didn’t need to be tailing after an older guy, especially not one who smoked and to my knowledge, found his dates by frequenting the local bars.

  The three of us worked through the rest of the afternoon, into the evening with few slow periods. Good for business, but exhausting. At seven things started to die down and Mitch went home, leaving Carlie to close with me. All day she and Mitch had been talking about a new movie they both wanted to see. Carlie had mentioned that a group from her school was going to a nine o’clock showing. I think she’d hoped he would ask her if she wanted to go with him, but he remained clueless despite her less than subtle nudging. Feeling bad for her, I decided to let her go fifteen minutes early so she wouldn’t miss the first part of the movie.

  “Go ahead and take off so you can make your movie with your friends. I’ll be fine closing up tonight by myself.”

  “You sure?” I could see the hopeful look on her face.

  “Yeah. It’s not a problem. Go see your movie.”

  Once she’d gathered her stuff and clocked out, I watched out the window to make sure she got to her car safely and then I went ahead and turned off our open light a few minutes early and started the process of cleaning the espresso machine. The young guy who appeared to be working on a paper, packed up his things and left. Once again, Danny was the last customer standing. He appeared fully engrossed in his work still, so I left him to it.

  Just before I closed out the register, the door opened and I looked up to see Officer Nielson walking in my door. He was in uniform, so I guessed he was on duty, or just coming off a shift.

  “Good evening, Nora.” He walked up to the counter.

  “Good evening, Officer Nielson.”

  “You know you can call me Ben, Nora.” Besides being a police officer, he’d also dated Emily briefly a couple months back. He was the only cop who was as sure as I was that she hadn’t disappeared of her own volition. He was doing what he could to ensure that a full investigation was done. He was a nice guy, and I kind of wished Emily hadn’t broken things off with him. He was more stable than most of her flings. In the short time they spent together, he’d also adored her, which was more than I could say about previous boyfriends. Maybe if she’d been out with him, she would be home safe right now. Unfortunately the nice, responsible guys weren’t really her type.

  “You here on official business about Em, or can I get you something?”

  “I wouldn’t say no to a cup of regular coffee if you’ve got one, but I’m here just to make sure you knew it wasn’t Em that was found this morning.”

  “Yeah, I heard the description didn’t fit. I take it you haven’t had any luck in finding out what happened to her?”

  He cupped the back of his neck and looked at me regretfully. “I wish I could say we had, but I want you to know we are taking this seriously. I know it may seem like all the attention is on the other girls, but we are searching for Emily and I promise we won’t give up until we find her.”

  I nodded. “I appreciate you stopping by.” I got him his coffee on the house and then I followed him to the door, locking it behind him so I could finish closing up. Danny finally looked up from his screen when I was counting down the till.

  “When did it get to be nine?”

  I let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a few things to tend to in the office, so you can finish up whatever had you so intensely focused today.” I took the money back to the office and deposited it in the safe for the night, then made sure everything was set for Reggie to open again in the morning. By the time I returned to the front, Danny had almost finished packing up his things. I gathered the garbage into one large trash bag, before unlocking the door to let him out.

  “Have a good night.”

  “Do you want me to wait for you, walk you out?”

  “I’ll be fine. I’m parked out back, but thank you.” I locked the door again behind him and then collected my things, slipping my coat on, before scooping up the trash bag and hauling it to the back. I set the alarm and then exited into the dark alley. I set the trash on the ground and used my key to lock the door. As I bent to retrieve the trash bag, a tingling sensation ran down my spine just before a rustle in the nearby bushes drew my attention.

  I straightened and scanned the dark around me, seeing nothing but shadows. The alley butted up against the building that sat on the corner behind mine. It was shared by a bike shop and photo lab. Beside it, a large parking lot stretched, taking up the rest of the block. That was where I parked, and nothing but darkness and shrubbery, as well as a few trees, separated me from my car. The noise must have been the wind. I shook off the tinge of fear and carried the trash bag over to the dumpster. I tossed it inside, but again I was startled by a rustling noise. I froze for just a second before I spun around, searching the night for whatever made the noise. I did not believe it was the wind this time.

  “Danny?” I called hesitantly, thinking he might have walked around to make sure I made it to my car safely. He didn’t answer and no one stepped out of the shadows. My heart was drumming inside my chest. I hurried toward my car, fumbling with my keys to hit the unlock button on my CR-V. When I climbed into the driver’s seat, I hurriedly hit the lock button and then pulled in a deep breath, letting it out with a weak chuckle, while mentally I scolded myself for being so silly.

  It was probably a stray cat. There was no one but me in the alley.

  ~~~~

  I watched as her car came to life, flooding the parking lot with light. I remained in the shadow of the bike shop until she pulled out of the lot and onto the street. I watched her go until her taillights disappeared around a corner, shrouding the area once again in darkness.

  “Goodnight, sweet Nora,” my whisper faded into the night.

  Dear sweet Nora. Missed what was right in front of her. I could have stepped out of the shadows and she still wouldn’t have seen the threat. After all, it was only me. That thought made me snicker to myself. It made no difference that things hadn’t gone exactly according to plan. I slipped up and got caught, a mistake that nearly cost me everything, but in the end, I would have what I wanted, and very soon she would realize her mistake.

  I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she finally realized who I was, who’d I’d been all along, and that I’d been right in front of her all this time.

  Not yet though.

  I walked over to the dumpster and tossed the object in my hands over the side.

  Three

  The next morning, I dragged myself from bed with a frustrated groan to answer the loud knock
at the door. It would figure that even on my one day off I wouldn’t get to sleep in. I grabbed a sweatshirt from my floor and threw it on over the thin tank top I slept in. Sliding my feet into my slippers, I trudged through the house to the door. When I pulled it open, Ben was standing just outside the outer porch door with another police officer. I recognized him from the night I came home to find Emily’s car in the garage, but her gone. That night was stuck playing over and over in my mind like a bad song you wish you’d never heard.

  She was supposed to be on a ski trip with some other friends, but had texted me that she was coming back early. The car hadn’t driven itself back, so I knew she made it home from the mountain. At first I thought she might have just decided to go out, but thought it weird she wouldn’t have texted me to meet up with her after I got off work. When midnight struck and she hadn’t come back or answered any of my calls and texts, I started to worry. We had a rule that if she was going to be out all night, or have an adult sleepover, she had to let me know who she was going to be with and where. I checked with our other friends and then finally her parents to ask if anyone had heard from her. When none of them had, I knew in my gut something was wrong and her parents agreed. At that point I called the cops. Ben and this guy, Officer Munez, responded to my call, but they wouldn’t, or couldn’t, do anything until she’d been missing longer. Even then I’d been able to tell they weren’t taking my concerns seriously. Ben was a little bitter that Emily had kicked him to the curb, but he finally came around.

  After talking to him last night, I didn’t know what they could be here about, but I knew it was about Em. Which meant something had happened. For a moment, I froze in the doorway, a knot of fear and worry tightening my insides. With uneasy steps I moved toward the second door and pulled it open.

  “Good morning officers,” my voice croaked, still heavy with sleep. I cleared my throat, “What can I do for you guys?”

  “Can we come in?” Munez asked.

  I looked at Ben nervously and then stepped back and they followed me inside to the living room where we took seats. “Is this about Emily?”

  “Are you sure you haven’t heard from your friend since you reported her missing?” Munez observed me with shrewd, dark eyes. I could see Ben was trying not to show anything in his expression and he was letting Munez take the lead.

  I frowned. “If I had heard from her, I would have let the police know. Now can you tell me why you’re here this morning?”

  “You can’t think of any reason why Miss Raynes might have wanted to get away or fake her disappearance?”

  “No, she wouldn’t do that without letting the people that care about her know. How many times do I have to tell you guys that she didn’t just take off? Something happened to her. I know it.”

  “We believe you Nora,” Ben finally spoke up. “We just had to ask. A vagrant was picked up this morning and we found in his possession identification and credit cards belonging to Emily. He claims to have taken them from a purse in the dumpster behind your shop late last night. We recovered the purse from the dumpster.”

  “That’s not possible.” I shook my head. “How would her purse have gotten inside the dumpster?”

  “We were hoping you might have an idea about that.”

  “I don’t know how it got there. I sure as hell didn’t put it there, and I don’t know who did. I do know Emily wouldn’t try to make it look like she disappeared. So whoever put it in there is probably the person who took her. Can’t you guys check for prints or something?” I thought back to the night before; I hadn’t looked inside the dumpster when I tossed the trash bag in, so I couldn’t say for sure if her purse was there or if someone had disposed of it later in the night.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be following all possible leads. We just wanted to get your take, and then ask you if there was anyone, an employee or customer who might have had issue with Miss Raynes.” Munez was still asking the questions.

  “I don’t understand. You think because it was behind my shop that someone from Urban Grind did it? Anyone could have thrown it in there.”

  “Like I said, we’re checking out every possibility. Miss Raynes is a partner in your business; were you guys having business troubles? Was there a relationship that went sour?”

  I noticed a tightening in Ben’s face muscles when Munez asked about relationships.

  I shook my head adamantly. “No. Business is great, and everyone at the shop loves Em. It’s been a while since she was in a relationship. I know she’d been seeing a few guys lately,” sorry Ben, “but I can’t imagine any of them having a reason to hurt her.” I was still having a hard time believing someone had thrown her purse in the dumpster. To dispose of it behind my shop was deliberate.

  “You guys already checked out her ex-boyfriend, Jason, right?” He was the only one slimy enough to do something like this, and he was the reason she came back early from her ski trip.”

  “Yes, we cleared Jason Reeves. Was there any other incident in recent weeks, or something that may have been troubling her?” Officer Munez prodded.

  “Not that she mentioned to me, but last night when I left work, just after nine, I thought there might have been someone hiding in the alley behind the shop. I don’t know why, just a feeling I had. I didn’t check it out. I practically ran to my car and got out of there as quickly as possible. After, I told myself it had to be a cat or the wind, but there could’ve have been someone there. Do you think it might have been the person who took Em and tossed her purse?”

  Was he there last night?

  “I’m afraid at this point we can’t say for sure that Emily was abducted. The purse will be examined for prints and the man we picked up will be questioned thoroughly. We’ll also talk to all of the business owners in the area and find out if anyone was around last night who might have seen someone coming or going from the alley around the time you left work.”

  “Do you think . . .” I was afraid to ask the question in my heart. “Is there a chance that she might still be alright?” I couldn’t bear to say alive.

  “There’s always a chance, Nora,” Ben tried to reassure me. “We’ll do everything we can to find answers for you and her family, and if it’s possible, we’ll bring her home.”

  They left after that, and I remained weighted to my spot on the couch. I drew my feet up and hugged my knees to my chest, resting my chin atop them. My stomach was sick with worry for Em. I was also racked with anger that I might have been so close to the person who’d taken her last night, without even knowing it. Trying to make sense of it in my head, only added to my frustrations. Why dump her purse to be found behind the shop? Or did he not expect it to be found? Wherever she was, was he hurting her? Had he kept her alive?

  Poor Em, my heart cracked inside my chest and tears welled in my eyes before a few slipped out. I sucked in a breath and used the sleeve of my sweatshirt to wipe them away. I had to get up before the worry and fear sucked me in and made it impossible for me to leave that spot.

  After a long shower and a hot breakfast, I sat at the counter in our kitchen, sipping a latte from my small, home espresso machine, staring out the window over the sink. I’d made up my mind that I would go see Em’s parents this afternoon, but now I was stalling. I couldn’t even imagine how they were holding up.

  Emily and I met our freshman year at Western, and many times since then she’d taken me home with her for dinners and family get-togethers. It was my home away from home and they were my second family. Her father, John Raynes was a retired military man, and her mom a retired sixth grade teacher. She had one older brother, James. He’d followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Army. He was currently deployed oversees, although last I’d heard from his parents, he was trying to get home. When Elise and John gave him the news about his sister, he’d almost gone AWOL to come home and search for her. I was in their living room while John talked him down on the phone, but Em’s disappearance was eating them all up. They were a tight bunch an
d I’d always loved being in their home, feeling like part of the family. Now, I dreaded going there and seeing their misery. I’m sure they’d already been contacted about Em’s purse, so the pain and worry would be fresh today. Although, I doubted it had faded even a little since I had to call them and let them she hadn’t come home.

  I swung by the shop before heading to the Raynes’ residence and found that Reggie, Cassie and Nina had everything under control.

  “We’re holding down the fort boss, but there were cops here this morning looking for you. Told them you were taking the day off. They asked if they could take a look around out back. I hope it was okay that I let them,” Reggie let me know.

  “Of course.” I filled him in on Em’s purse being found while Cassie and Nina both listened in.

  “God, this is so awful. Who does this shit?” Cassie spit, disgusted.

  “I don’t know,” I muttered. I’m not sure that I wanted to know the kind of person capable of this. Whatever happened to Em, whether she was still out there somewhere or not, wasn’t good. “I want you guys to make sure from now on, whoever is closing, no one takes out the trash alone and the girls need to be walked to their cars. I don’t want to make anyone afraid, but let’s be smart.”

  They readily agreed and I felt better knowing that the guys would be vigilant and cautious with the girls when closing. I popped into the office to grab last night’s deposit from the safe to take to the bank.

  “So, when do I get to meet this new lover of yours?” Nina asked when I emerged from the office.

  “Who’s been telling you I have a new lover?” I scowled at Cassie and Reggie. They both wore guilty grins. I turned back to Nina. “I don’t, and after Nathan and with everything going on, it’s the last thing on my mind.”